1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a print support apparatus that prints based on an electronic job ticket, to a print support program, and to a method of supporting printing. More particularly, the invention relates to a print support apparatus that is capable of acquiring specifications for a printed material and properly selecting a printing apparatus according to the priority of a printing setting, to a printing apparatus selecting apparatus, to a print support program, to a printing apparatus selecting program, to a storage medium, to a method of selecting a printing apparatus, to a method of supporting printing, and to a method of creating a printing apparatus determining tree.
2. Related Art
In order for a drafter of a document to obtain a printing material according to a desired specification, a technology has been known in which an electronic job ticket that is different from the document data to be printed is created, and printing is performed based on the electronic job ticket and the document data. For example, as the electronic job ticket, printing material including finishing information such as a binding location or the like are defined, in addition to format information, such as a paper size, a printing direction, allocation setting, and existence or nonexistence of double-side printing.
Generally, as technologies for performing printing using an electronic job ticket, for example, a digital information output system is disclosed in JP-A-2003-122524 and a printing system is disclosed in JP-A-6-110629.
In the digital information output system disclosed in JP-A-2003-122524, a host terminal and a plurality of printers are connected to each other through a network. The host terminal selects a printer, creates a processing output instruction of digital information, and investigates a process capability of the output destination thereof. According to the result, the host terminal analyzes the processing output instruction of the digital information, processes the digital information according to the analyzed result, and transmits the digital information, a processing output instruction of the digital information, or the processed digital information to the printer that is the selected output destination according to the process capability of the printer. A first printer analyzes a processing output instruction of the transmitted digital information, processes the digital information according to the analyzed result, and outputs the processed digital information. A second printer outputs the digital information processed by the host terminal.
In the printing system disclosed in JP-A-6-110629, a printing apparatus is selected by using a printing apparatus determining tree for determining the printing apparatus. First, the combination of printing job selection fields is programmed by a user in UI, and inserted in a parameter block. In a case in which the parameter and the printing apparatus determining tree are compared with each other and the printing job selection fields of the allowed combination are programmed, the corresponding job ticket is transmitted to one of several printing queues. In contrast, in a case in which the printing selection fields of the combination not having been allowed are programmed, a failure message is transmitted from a test device to the UI, and the user is informed of the fact that the selection not having been allowed is performed.
However, according to the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-122524, there are the following problems.
According to the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-122524, a usable device is not limited, and a printer becoming an output destination is arbitrarily selected. However, in a case in which a monochrome printer is selected as an output destination of document data to be printed in color or a printer corresponding to A4 is selected as an output destination of document data to be printed in A3, it is not possible to achieve printing material. For example, in a case in which only two printers including a color printer corresponding to A4 and a monochrome printer corresponding to A3 can be used, when document data of a cover of a first page is printed in A4 and color and document data of the text of the next pages including a second page is printed in A3 and monochrome, even though any printer is selected, it is not possible to achieve a specification of the printing material by one printer.
Further, according to the technology disclosed in JP-A-6-110629, there are the following problems.
FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a logical structure of a printing apparatus determining tree.
As shown in FIG. 24, the printing apparatus determining tree includes associating a plurality of printing settings with one another in a tree and associating printing apparatuses with terminal nodes of the plurality of printing settings. In FIG. 24, as a printing setting, the priority order is assigned in the order of paper sizes, paper kinds, existence or nonexistence of color printing, existence or nonexistence of double-side printing, and printing quality, and the tree is constructed in the high priority order. The respective printing apparatuses are associated with the terminal nodes of the printing setting which they can process. For example, in the printing apparatus determining tree, a printing apparatus 1 that can achieve a specification of a paper size ‘A4’, a paper kind ‘glossy paper’, and single-side printing forms paths in the order of ‘A4’, ‘glossy paper’, and ‘single-side printing’ in a most significant node, and it is associated with the terminal node of the corresponding printing setting.
In order to achieve the specifications for the printed material, in a case in which a paper size ‘A4’, a paper kind ‘glossy paper’, and single-side printing are set as the printing setting, the paths are traced in the same sequence, and the printing apparatus 1 of the reached terminal node is selected. Further, in a case in which a paper size ‘A4’, a paper kind ‘glossy paper’, and double-side printing are set as the printing setting, the paths are traced in the same sequence. However, since the printing apparatus is not associated with the reached terminal node, the printing apparatus 1 of the most neighboring node (the closest terminal node) is selected. Accordingly, in a case in which the printing apparatus is not associated with the terminal node of the path of the necessary printing setting, one field of necessary printing settings is abandoned.
However, in a case in which the priority order for each necessary printing setting is different, it is not preferable to select the printing apparatus associated with the most neighboring node. In the above example, single-side printing is substituted for double-side printing. However, if the priority order of double-side printing is higher than the priority order of the paper kind, it is preferable to select a printing apparatus 3 in which the specification of a paper size ‘A4’, a paper kind ‘common paper’, and double-side printing can be achieved.
Further, according to the technology disclosed in JP-A-6-110629, when the printing selection fields of the combination not having been allowed are programmed, only a failure message is presented, and thus it is not possible to achieve a specification of the printing material.